In the era of streaming services, we’re witnessing a significant shift in the world of live sports. A growing number of sports enthusiasts are cutting ties with traditional cable TV subscriptions in favor of streaming services that provide them with a better bang for their buck. However, when it comes to this streaming revolution, there’s one major player that seems to be falling behind: Netflix.
Countless subscribers have been wondering whether the streaming giant will finally step up its game and bring live sports streaming to its platform. Netflix’s CEO, Ted Sarandos, addressed this topic during the recent quarterly earnings Q&A, saying:
Our position in live sports remains unchanged. We’re super excited about the success of our sports-adjacent programming. We just had it recently — just launched a great one called Quarterback with the NFL. A few weeks ago, we had Tour de France, which did exactly what we saw with Drive to Survive, which is introduced to a brand new audience to a sport that’s been around for a really long time and not very well understood and you do that through exceptional storytelling, not through the liveness of the game.
Sarandos’ claim about the streamer’s sports-adjacent programming has been validated by Formula 1: Drive to Survive. The acclaimed docuseries delves into the world of Formula 1 teams and has received high praise for its behind-the-scenes perspective.
According to Nielsen ratings, the show was a key factor in the remarkable 20% surge in interest in the sport. On top of that, the American research firm projected that Formula 1 was well on its way to amassing an incredible 1 billion fans.
Sarandos also asserted that unscripted sports programming offers subscribers entertainment beyond the sports season, stating:
So, by doing that, we can now offer this wide variety of sports programming for sports fans that’s in season year round and it really leans on our strengths, which are storytelling. So we’re really excited about that. And you read some of the experimental stuff that we’re going to be doing, like this live golf match in November. And we’re excited about that because it serves as a promotional vehicle for our sports brands like full swing and Drive to Survive. So we really think that we can have a really strong offering for sports fans on Netflix without having to be part of the difficulty of the economic model of live sports licensing.
Streaming platforms like Amazon, Paramount+, Apple TV+, and Peacock have secured partnerships to offer live sports streaming. Prime Video now delivers NFL games; Peacock serves up Premier League matches; Paramount+ covers the PGA Tour; and Apple TV+ offers MLS football matches to their subscribers.
Netflix may not strike a live streaming deal any time soon, but its collaboration with sports channels has proved lucrative for its sports programming offering. Case in point: the 2018 basketball docuseries The Last Dance, produced jointly with ESPN. The aforementioned miniseries became a smash hit, earning Netflix and ESPN a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series at the 2020 Emmy Awards.
